Subject: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Charley Noble Date: 25 Mar 05 - 10:27 AM I love it when I run across an article like this one (Los Angeles Times by Robert Lee Holtz) reprinted in our daily newspaper, headline reading "Scientists Discover Soft Tissues in Tyrannosauros Rex Remains." Who needs to read further? The imagination just takes over, thinking about what scientific plans this discovery will invariably inspire! But I do read on: The discovery of the meat, preserved for 70 million years, is considered a first and holds scientific promise. Savor that sentence slowly. Doesn't it conjure up images of cloning a flock of T-Rexes, not just to see if it can be done but for the betterment of mankind, science, and the American way! Reading on, we learn that the tissue was accidently found in the marrow of a huge fossil femor which was sawed in two for more ready transport to the Schweitzer Lab at North Carolina State University in Raieigh, North Carolina. It gets even better as we learn that the tissues from further examination by electron microscope were "virtually indentical" to those of modern ostrich. I can already hear the background music ramping up to full play. Apparently, this may not be a unique find. There are lots of fossil femurs stored at museums and research facilities all over the world. Nobody ever thought to section one and see if there was any residual tissue inside. Apparently "paleotologists were too squeamish to break open their irreplacable dinosaur specimens to dissolve the mineral matrix inside the bones." Well, I'm happy to report that some scientists have now overcome such squeamishness: "Indeed, a quick examination of three other dinosaur specimens revealed similar microscopic tissues inside the bones." So far scientists have not acknowledged finding any "intact genetic material" but if they do "it might help settle debates about the kinship of dinosaurs and birds, or even prompt cloning experiments aimed at replicating the creatures." Anyone got a spare ostrich egg? This is big news, and I'm sorry about spewing some of my coffee over my morning paper. It's hard to harvest further details from my newspaper but maybe someone could provide a "blue clicky" link to this emerging story. I'll have my dinoburger with fries, please! Cheerily, Charley Noble |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 25 Mar 05 - 11:34 AM Okay, here's a link: Tyrannosaurus Rex Blood Vessel Find Dave Oesterreich |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Rapparee Date: 25 Mar 05 - 11:57 AM Heard about it yesterday. It's great news! Picture a huge, meat-eating, serrated-toothed ostrich, blood dripping from its massive jaws.... Dang, boy! That's gonna make a whole new thing outa big game huntin'! "If you go down in the Swamp today You're in for a BIG surprise, If you gown in the Swamp today You'll never believe your eyes! For every Tee Rex that every there was Will gather there for certain because Today's the day you're going to be a picnic." |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Amos Date: 25 Mar 05 - 12:08 PM God, between Rexburgers and octopi doing pliés (see "Newspaper" thread) the animal kingdom is all topsyturvy today!! Great story, Charlie! A |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Rapparee Date: 25 Mar 05 - 12:12 PM Could be the other way around, Amos. The images are, well, disturbing. |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: robomatic Date: 25 Mar 05 - 01:09 PM I found this very exciting Jurassic Park-wise. It means we should be able to get some T Rex DNA without having to splice it with frogs, so we won't have that nasty parthenogenesis problem. The Park can be built and nothing won't nevre go gnowr! |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Bill D Date: 25 Mar 05 - 01:11 PM yeah..Dinoburgers? As I understand it, T Rex would just consider us finger-food, and be pleased to have so many Wendy's around. |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Don Firth Date: 25 Mar 05 - 01:21 PM LOVE SONG Last night I dreamt I was a brontosaurus,Respectfully submitted, Don Firth |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: robomatic Date: 25 Mar 05 - 02:08 PM If you're into Old Time Radio, get yourself a copy of X Minus One, the episode labeled "A Gun For Dinosaur". |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Charley Noble Date: 25 Mar 05 - 02:56 PM Dave- Thanks for the link! Now we knoew it's all true. These posts just make my day. I'm not alone! I'm surprised, though, that no one has suggested a parody of a Dinah Shore (sorry, Art Theme but then you're probably still off-line) song. How about a new version of "Blues in the Night"? Don - Is that your own creative work? Rapaire - Don't you trust scientists? What a wonderful world! Cheerily, Charley Noble |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: The Walrus Date: 25 Mar 05 - 03:13 PM I must say, when I read the first post of this thread, I did go back to check the date. So who's going to re-write 'Hunting the Wren" as "Hunting the Rex"? Walrus |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Rapparee Date: 25 Mar 05 - 04:12 PM I trust scientists a helluva lot more than I trust TV preachers, car salesmen, PR flacks, and politicians. A LOT more. Tee Rex, Tee Rex, the king of all birds St. Stephen's Day he stomped through the furze Although he was great his honor was small And old Tee Rex he gobbled us all. Tee Rex burgers are mighty good eatin' They're mighty good eating', mighty good eatin' Tee Rex burgers are might good eatin' If old Tee Rex don't gobble us all. |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Alaska Mike Date: 25 Mar 05 - 04:20 PM I want mine with lettuce and tomatos, Heinze 57 and french fried potatoes, big kosher pickle and a cold draft beer, well good God almighty which way do I steer. |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Kim C Date: 25 Mar 05 - 05:06 PM Reckon how do they taste with a side of fries? |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Charley Noble Date: 25 Mar 05 - 08:22 PM Maybe I should have suggested a side of stir-fried philodendron shoots instead of fries. Rapaire- you are on to a great song! My mother wrote a prophetic children's book entitled "The Wonderful Egg." When it hatched there appeared the first primative bird. Of course she didn't realize, back then in the 1950's, that dinosaurs already had feathers and just needed a little excercise, a la Jenny Cragosaur, before they could take to the air. Then there's the egg in Australia from which recently hatched "Harley Dinosaur." Check with John Warner if you don't believe me. I would not pull your leg. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: podman Date: 26 Mar 05 - 09:13 AM How do they taste? like chicken, I should imagine |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Charley Noble Date: 26 Mar 05 - 09:29 AM There probably is someone somewhere who will try to raise these T-Rex beasties for meat, and we all know what will happen to him...CHUMP! Still, I bet the little fellas are real cute. You could probably raise them on live chickens, as some do with crocodiles. I sure hope there's an update on this story. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: GUEST,Uncle DaveO Date: 26 Mar 05 - 11:18 AM Podman ventured: How do they taste? like chicken, I should imagine No, like ostrich. Dave Oesterreich |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Rustic Rebel Date: 26 Mar 05 - 01:53 PM If we cloned them and made them domestic would we really want to eat our pets? Here Dino...whistle.. |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: gnu Date: 26 Mar 05 - 02:00 PM Reminds me I gotta get my Varmint License for 2005. |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Don Firth Date: 26 Mar 05 - 02:19 PM Nope, Charlie, much as I would like to claim the brontosaurus song, it was cobbled together by a fellow named Jim Wilhelm. He and I used to sing at the Pamir House, a coffeehouse in Seattle, back in the early Sixties. Jim is still around. He was there, guitar in hand, along with the rest of us at the "Geezer's Concert" (Coffee House Reunion) at the 2003 Northwest Folklife Festival. He now lives in southwestern Washington. In additional to traditional songs, he still sings outrageous stuff of his own manufacture. Funny guy! Don Firth |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: podman Date: 26 Mar 05 - 02:21 PM This could be great for the gun business. Need a whole new size of buckshot. (And a new shoulder to fire it). |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Alice Date: 26 Mar 05 - 02:53 PM The lead paleontologist, Jack Horner, is based in my home town at The Museum of the Rockies. Click here The dino that made the news was found in Montana. Horner says this is just the beginning of checking for soft tissue in dino bones. --------- quote http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/510685/ B. rex was one of 31 dinosaurs found over four years in the Hell Creek Formation around Jordan and the Fort Peck Reservoir in Montana. All located on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service property, they were discovered during a major effort to reconstruct the dinosaur-dominant ecosystem that existed there 65 million years ago. Bob Harmon, chief preparator of paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies, found B. rex after hiking into a steep box canyon. "I was out looking for dinosaurs and actually stopped to eat lunch along side a big 50-foot cliff and just turned around and looked behind, and one of the foot bones of a T. rex was sticking out of a cliff," Harmon said. "I went up and looked and could see some other bones sticking out." To study its soft tissue vessels and cellular preservation, Schweitzer removed minerals from the bone and conducted chemical analyses. She dehyrdrated and rehydrated bone tissue. She stretched and restretched blood tissue. She used scanning electron microscopy to compare features of the dinosaur vessels with those found in ostriches. Ostriches are primitive birds known to be related to dinosaurs. She isolated transparent vessels from two other exceptionally well-preserved T. rexes and compared those to the B. rex. An explanation for B. rex's condition is part of her ongoing research, Schweitzer said. Horner said he didn't think it was preserved any better than any other T. rex in sandstone. "It's simply the first dinosaur that has been studied in this manner, and therefore the first dinosaur to have yielded this kind of information," Horner said. "I'm sure that many other dinosaurs are going to preserve the same material when people begin looking." --------- Alice in Montana |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: gnu Date: 26 Mar 05 - 03:02 PM podman said: "This could be great for the gun business. Need a whole new size of buckshot. (And a new shoulder to fire it)." Nay lad! You just need to make that first one count. Operative word being "need". |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Charley Noble Date: 26 Mar 05 - 06:14 PM Thanks, Alice, for the update. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: frogprince Date: 26 Mar 05 - 06:43 PM Is the reason so many of us are so fascinated by those beasties just that size does count? It'll be great if we're on the brink of a whole new level of knowledge about 'em. |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Rapparee Date: 26 Mar 05 - 07:32 PM I mentioned this to my nephew Ted today. Called him just for this, in fact. He's ecstastic. He really, really wants to get in on this and especially the cloning possibilities. Perhaps, he thinks, on a remote island, shut off from visitors by patrol boats and helicopters.... Of course, Ted's ten years old, so he's thinking of working with his older sister, Elizabeth, who's working on her PhD in microbiology. |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: RangerSteve Date: 27 Mar 05 - 10:59 AM I, for one, am not risking my life and a lot of money to raise an animal that might not even taste good in the end, and I don't expect anyone else to either. And we generally don't eat carnivorous animals anyway. Diplodicus is the way to go. A couple of those could feed a small country for a year. |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Rapparee Date: 27 Mar 05 - 11:16 AM Gee, I've known people who have eaten bear, alligator, mountain lion, and dog. Those are all carnivores. I think that it will be years, if ever, before mighty herds of dinosaurs are raised for food. "Woke up one mornin' on the old Chisom Trail, Rope in my hand, apatosaurus by the tail...." |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Charley Noble Date: 27 Mar 05 - 11:39 AM Rapaire- It may be many years before dinosaurs are again roaming the range but we'll have the "traditional" songs ready to roll! Here's an update on an old drinking song, "Martin Said to his Man": I saw a Stegosaurus stagger through the door... Have one glass and crash through the floor... I saw a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Fie, man, fie! I saw a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Who's the fool now? I saw a Tyrannosaurus Rex, When there was no more Guiness, he was in a vex, Thou hast well drunken and who's the fool now? I saw a Pteradactyle with a smile... Say: "After a while crocodile!"... I saw a Triceratops in his shop... Hard at work fermenting hops... I saw a Brontosaurus with a thesaurus... Searching for the ultimate chorus... Cheerily, Charley Noble |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Shanghaiceltic Date: 28 Mar 05 - 01:56 AM My local Chinese family eatery is now working on some new recipes. They would not want the steaks, the other bits is what the Chinese always like: Trex feet with chilli and garlic Trex tail with rice noodles Trex lips with fermented tofu Trex intestines stuffed with sexual organs steamed (true recipe but substitute pig intestines and balls) Trex arms with mushrooms in hot sauce Trex blood sausage Better still if one escaped and run amok on the roads here it would only improve the driving! |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: RangerSteve Date: 28 Mar 05 - 06:25 AM Repaire - I've had bear meat myself, and my local Shop-Rite had ground alligator meat for a while, but it neither one has caught on with the general public. I'm still gonna wait for the plant eaters. Slight subject change: I't early in spring when we round of the Rexes, We rope 'em and brand 'em and bob off their tails.,,, There's a job that someone else is welcome to. |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Rapparee Date: 28 Mar 05 - 08:32 AM It ain't the tails that's bobbed off in early Spring; that's when bull calves become steers. You do the job of caponizing a T-Rex. But man, when it's done, them Rocky Mountains Oysters'll make one BIG meal! |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Donuel Date: 28 Mar 05 - 09:07 AM If you ever ate alligator and was told ahead of time it tastes like chicken, T rex would also be a disappointment. |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: GUEST,Rapaire Date: 28 Mar 05 - 11:05 AM I once ate a rotted ol' cedar stump. They told me it'd taste just like chicken. |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: GUEST,Liz the Squeak Date: 28 Mar 05 - 07:07 PM 2 points... One: Isn't it ironic that the link proving that T-Rexes are related to ostriches comes from Dave the Oesterreich... and two: How could we be finger foods? The closest thing T-Rexes have to fingers are those itty bitty arm things that don't even reach to scratch their ...... noses. LTS |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: GUEST,Uncle DaveO Date: 28 Mar 05 - 07:50 PM Liz, I wish I had five cents for every time I've heard a "joke" based on the similarity of "ostrich" to "Oesterreich". And the hardest thing to bear is the bland, smug assumption of the "joke" teller that he/she is saying something original. Dave Tyrannosaurus |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: GUEST,Liz the Squeak Date: 29 Mar 05 - 02:15 AM My Darling Uncle DaveO - I'm sorry, it struck me as amusing, but it was very late and I was very tired. I wasn't trying to be smug and try quite hard not to be bland.... Sorry. Consider me chastised. You may administer corporal punishment in the form of a spanking, should you ever make it to this neck of the woods..... Sorry..... Incidentally, I had occasion to walk past an emu enclosure at the weekend.... if those tyrannosauruses are related then they are going to be one hell of a smelly critter..... that emu was FOUL! LTS |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: GUEST,Uncle DaveO Date: 29 Mar 05 - 10:03 AM Liz: I'm sorry, that post wasn't really intended the way it came across. It wasn't really aimed at you. Your post didn't really fall into the kind of joke category I've grown to weary of over the last 74 years. The post mainly REMINDED me of the weary "jokes". Actually I thought as I posted it of just what you pointed out, the similarity, and decided not to try to make a joke of it. I've learned over the many years, partly from my own experience, that there are no funny jokes about people's names. Dave Oesterreich |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: GUEST,Liz the Squeak Date: 29 Mar 05 - 10:05 AM Does this mean I don't get my spanking? : ] LTS |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: GUEST,Uncle DaveO Date: 29 Mar 05 - 10:14 AM Well, Liz, I wouldn't want you to feel deprived or neglected, so..... Dave Oesterreich |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: frogprince Date: 29 Mar 05 - 02:30 PM Nver had no luck spankin' a lady; I always just wind up caressing.. |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Liz the Squeak Date: 29 Mar 05 - 02:32 PM Oh dear, what have I started here......?! LTS |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Charley Noble Date: 29 Mar 05 - 04:26 PM Liz- You could always redeem yourself by posting an update about the T-Rex story, or contributing a verse! Cheerily, Charley Noble |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: The Walrus Date: 30 Mar 05 - 04:29 AM CUTTY Rex Oh where are you going? said Milder to Moulder Oh we may not tell you said Festel to Fose We're off to the genetics lab said John the Red Nose We're off to the genetics lab said John the Red Nose And what will you do there said Milder to Moulder We'll hunt the T Rex said John the Red Nose And how will you shoot it? said Milder to Moulder We thought we'd use rifles said John the Red Nose Oh that will not do said Milder to Moulder Oh what will you do then said Festel to Fose Anti-tank guns and cannon said John the Red Nose And how will you fetch her? said Milder to Moulder Oh we may not tell you said Festel to Fose On four strong men's shoulders said John the Red Nose Ah that will not do said Milder to Moulder Oh what will do then said Festel to Fose A crane and a lorry, said John the Red Nose Oh how will you cut her up? said Milder to Moulder With knives and with forks said John the Red Nose Oh that will not do said Milder to Moulder Well, I'd use a chain-saw said John the Red Nose Oh how will you boil her? said Milder to Moulder In pots and in kettles said John the Red Nose O that will not do said Milder to Moulder Who serves boiled Lizard? said John the Red Nose Oh who'll get the scraggy bit? said Milder to Moulder We'll flog them to McDonalds said John the Red Nose I'll get my coat |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Charley Noble Date: 30 Mar 05 - 09:29 AM Walrus- Thanks for making my day! LOL (While in an alternative universe an older folksinging T-Rex is composing a song about BBQ Walrus!) Hmmm. The bannar ads are featuring T-Rex CD's. I wonder what that's all about...Dare I click on the link? Cheerily, Charley Noble |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Liz the Squeak Date: 30 Mar 05 - 09:40 AM Ah.. Marc Bolan..... dreams of my youth.... riding white swans and consulting my metal guru.... LTS |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 30 Mar 05 - 07:26 PM Trouble is, the basic idea is just so hard to believe. How could soft tissue survive all that time in that arid environment? Later - trying going to this site for more information http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20050326/fob1.asp I don't think we are going to be reconstructing any T Rex's from this stuff. |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Rapparee Date: 30 Mar 05 - 09:46 PM Perhaps not right now, but my nephew is REALLY interested in doing just that. If, however, we can extract protein sequences, we might well be able to shed some light on evolution and several other things. Of course, as my nephew says, "Having a bunch of Tee Rexes running around loose means somebody could get hurt." |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Charley Noble Date: 30 Mar 05 - 10:36 PM Rapaire- You got one smart nephew there. So much smarter than the average scientist who is wearing the skin off his/her hands rubbing them together as he/she mutters gleefully "There's gold in them thar hills!" This story doesn't seem to be an urban legend but we really haven't seen anything in print yet beyond speculation of extracting any DNA from the tissue. Charley Noble |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Charley Noble Date: 30 Mar 05 - 10:49 PM Here's a fresher link to this story with juicy images of the tissue: YUM! Cheerily, Charley Noble |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Liz the Squeak Date: 31 Mar 05 - 03:38 AM mmmm, yummy... fire up that king sized barbie and pass me the ketchup! What wine would you have with T Rex... is it red meat or white? If they're related to ostriches, would that make them poultry? LTS |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Rapparee Date: 31 Mar 05 - 09:19 AM I'd have a Rose, myself, and split the difference. I think that this thread should be merged with "Jamie Oliver, folk hero." |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Stu Date: 31 Mar 05 - 09:56 AM "If they're related to ostriches, would that make them poultry?" Strictly speaking that makes your poultry dinosaurs (lots of them had feathers). Think about that and it'll never be the same again when you are ordering chickun and chips or feeeding the ducks! DNA degrades too quickly for entire chains to be left in the T.rex soft tissue. As Rapaire says, the real interest with this find is information gleaned from the remaining protiens. I think the dinosaur-bird relationship could be cleared up at last. How common this type of preservation is is unknown - how old could fossils be we may get soft tissues from? stigweard the dino-nut |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 31 Mar 05 - 11:19 AM Somewhere in those links I read that they had since found at least two other instances of preserved soft tissue in dinosaur bones. Dave Oesterreich |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Rapparee Date: 31 Mar 05 - 11:35 AM One from another Trex and one from a hadrosaur. All of them from Montana, I believe. Makes me glad I went to Butte, Bozeman, and West Yellowstone in early February, before this news came out, or I might have run into a Trex up there. |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Liz the Squeak Date: 31 Mar 05 - 03:41 PM Trex used to be a fat used in baking..... or was it a beef suet? Anyway, it made lousy pastry.. or was that just my mother, the school dinner lady? LTS |
Subject: RE: BS: Tyrannosaurus Rex Burgers? From: Rapparee Date: 31 Mar 05 - 03:46 PM Coprolite is fossilized dinosaur dung. Could they wash the minerals out and, well, use your imagination. LtS, Trex was made from recovered soft tissues from you-know-whats. That's why it wasn't very good -- the stuff was a wee past its prime. |